Fat chance of beating obesity as takeaways rise by 50%

Takeaways are colonising Britain’s high streets and creating barriers to tackling obesity, according to a study

There are 50 per cent more kebab, pizza and fried chicken outlets than in 1997, and tackling Britain’s weight problem will require enforcement of healthier options, researchers say. The biggest rise has been in deprived areas which could help explain why the poor are more likely to be obese, experts say.

If that suggests we are increasingly slumped on the sofa eating junk food, the pointers are doubly ominous — a separate study found that each extra hour a day in front of the television increases the risk of diabetes by 3.4 per cent.

Scientists found that even when age, sex and activity were taken into account, there was…